(Bloomberg) -- Gold climbed for a third day as investors weighed fluctuations in bond yields and the stall in U.S. retail sales, along with the latest series of lockdowns in Asia to curb spiking coronavirus cases.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries steadied after declining Friday following a report which showed the value of overall retail purchases in the U.S. was essentially unchanged in April, when economists had projected a 1% gain. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester played down signals from data that she warned will be volatile as the economy reopens and stated that the U.S. central bank’s policy is in a good place right now.
After slumping in the first quarter, gold has been on the mend amid uncertainty over the pace of the global recovery from the pandemic, rising inflation expectations and assurances from the Fed that monetary policy will remain accommodative. Investors may be warming up again to the precious metal, with hedge fund managers increasing their net bullish gold bets to the highest in three months, while data compiled by Bloomberg show holdings in bullion-backed exchange traded funds climbed for a sixth straight day.
Spot gold rose 0.5% to $1,852.52 an ounce by 9:38 a.m. in Singapore, after advancing 0.9% on Friday. Silver and palladium gained, while platinum was steady. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was up 0.1%.
On the virus front, Singapore and Taiwan, success stories in containing Covid-19, are both rapidly imposing aggressive restrictions at home -- and tightening travel between each other.
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